Title: One More Day

Author: Tara22

Summary: It's the usual gang but in an alternate universe!

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon, etc etc.

Part 2

Willow approached the door cautiously. She wasn't sure that she was at the right place, and if it was, that she wanted to be there. She pushed the door and felt it swing open under her pressure.

"Um, hello? Is anyone here?" she asked quietly into the dark room.

When noone responded she turned to leave.

"Oh, hi!"

The redhead blanched. Before her was a buxom woman dressed entirely in leather. She had a nose ring and at least seven piercings in her ears. Her hair was a vibrant shade of purple and she greeted her with a large smile.

"How can I help you?" the woman asked joyously.

Willow blushed and found it hard to speak.

"Oh, wait, you're here to speak to me. Quick, come into my office. My name is Donna."

Donna ushered Willow in and shut the door. She switched on the light, revealing a couch, desk, and a small black refrigerator.

"I know, I know, it isn't much, but it's home," Donna clucked proudly like a mother hen. "Now you, what's your name, dear? I'm sorry about before. I should know by now that therapy is an embarrassing thing to admit. I promise I don't usually do that! No. Don't just stand there. Sit. Sit."

The redhead sat awkwardly on the couch. "My name is Willow and I don't need therapy. I need some, er, advice."

"Of course you don't, dear, they never do."

The therapist smiled earnestly at her and walked to the fridge. She opened the door, humming silently to herself, and looked inside it until she found what she wanted.

"Ah hah!" she cried happily. "Here, take this"

Donna handed Willow a can of soft drink. On closer inspection Willow realized that it was not one like she had ever seen before.

"What is this?" the redhead asked with amusement.

"It's a Brazilian soda, and its flavor? Although I won't deny that drinking it has some effects similar to those you can expect after taking caffeine, it is the exotic flavor that makes it so interesting. It delivers a fruity taste, isn't overloaded with sugar, and has a pleasant aftertaste."

The therapist pulled the tab on her can and took a large sip. "You've got to taste it, Willow!"

Willow opened her can and sipped it. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "it is quite wonderful. You described it well!"

"Did you like that?" Donna asked with pride. "It is how they describe it on the website. I memorized it!"

The redhead laughed. She felt comfortable with Donna and it surprised her. She'd never been very good at talking to strangers, particularly women.

"Now," the therapist started, taking a seat on the couch next to Willow, "tell me, what 'advice' do you need?"

"I'm having some trouble at school," Willow started.

Donna nodded encouragingly.

"I just, I've been having trouble with the learning, but I guess people always do at the beginning. I mean, I bet even Mozart had to learn how to play the piano before he became famous, right?"

"I would imagine so," the therapist agreed.

"But, I think, well my housemate thinks, and I guess I agree, cause it does make sense, but I just don't know if it will work though. I mean, I need to make some friends but I'm not sure how, Donna."

Donna grinned, "oh Willow, you should have just said so. That's quite easy."

"It is?" the redhead asked with confusion.

The therapist stood and unzipped her jacket. She dug around in the pocket on the inside of it and pulled out a large pile of rolled up paper.

"I know it's in here somewhere," she grunted.

Finally she found it.

"I hope you don't mind the wrinkles, Willow. As you can see I don't have very many storage places and the desk drawers are all filled."

"Of course not," the redhead assured her.

"Fabulous! Now look here. This is a list of all the clubs and activity groups we have on campus and the times and whereabouts of their meetings. If you join a few of these then I am certain you will make a friend, if not many!"

Donna sunk back onto the couch and handed the paper to Willow. "Perhaps if you have a look at this tonight and pick a few to try then you can go to the meetings over the next week and we can meet up again for another therapy, er, advice session."

Willow took the paper gratefully. She hadn't been certain if she should visit the therapist's office. When she'd read about her in the back of her uni diary she was positive that she would never do such a thing, but now that she'd met Donna and they'd had this chat she was glad she had.

"Thanks Donna, I appreciate this. I will do that."

"Good for you, Willow! I'm glad to hear it!" the therapist said, taking Willow's hand in her own and giving it a firm shake. "Good luck with everything. I look forward to hearing from you! Come any time, as you can see I'm not usually very busy!"

After the two women said their farewells, Willow threw her soft drink can in the trash and left. Behind her she could hear Donna humming something that sounded like 'Hit Me Baby, One More Time'.

'Well that was fun,' she thought to herself with a smile.

12345

Xander studied the list in his hands. "Milk, tick, bread, tick, marshmallows, tick, tampons? My god, mother you did not ask me to buy tampons!" he whispered to himself.

'Living at home sucks,' he complained silently. 'One of these days I am totally moving in with Will and Buffy.'

He thought about his two best friends and smiled. They'd had an awesome time the other night and he couldn't wait to see them again. It meant so much to him that they'd come to his recital and met his ballet friends.

Ballet was his saving grace. Sometimes he couldn't believe that there had ever been a time where he wasn't dancing.

"It's escapism," his father had snarled when he found out what Xander had been doing all those evenings. "You should be concentrating on being a man! Getting a real job!" His father didn't consider working part-time at an art gallery as a real job.

"Are you gay?" his mother had asked when she found out. "You know Xander. I don't think it's very normal for young men to be dancing ballet."

"No, no and no!" he'd told them both. "I'm not trying to escape! I have a real job! I am not gay!"

Of course they didn't believe him, but Xander was starting to think that he didn't care.

They expected so much of him yet gave so little of themselves.

'If they're worried that I'm so girly then why am I grocery shopping and buying tampons?' he wondered.

His mother had a habit of leaving him chore lists tacked to his door. This one was simple:

Xander,

I have yoga tonight. I need you to buy the groceries. The list is on the fridge.

Mom

No 'thank you' or 'I love you' but he was used to that.

Xander made his way down the isles looking for the tampons. When he found them he looked both ways to make sure noone was watching and grabbed the nearest pack.

"That time of the month, huh?"

The man froze. "What?" he asked, turning to face the direction the voice had come from.

In front of him was a beautiful blonde woman. She smiled at him cheekily.

"I don't recommend that kind. They're a little rough."

Xander stared at the woman. He knew he recognized her from somewhere but couldn't place her. He looked down at his hands and blushed, realizing that he was still holding the tampons.

"Do I know you?" he asked the blonde. "This isn't a pick-up or anything. I just recognize you from somewhere. My name is Xander, by the way. Xander Harris."

"I don't think we know each other. My name is Anya. Pleased to meet you."

The name clicked in Xander's head and he realized who she was. "Oh!" he cried. "You work at Frau zu Mann!"

Anya started. It wasn't very often that she was remembered or recognized by anyone, let alone someone who'd been to her work.

"Yeah," she said, "I am. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

"It's ok," Xander said with a grin. "You do look kind of different. I'm surprised I recognized you!"

The blonde bit her lip. He'd been to her bar and was buying tampons. That could mean a number things. Many of which would not work out in her favor. A few of which would. She liked this Xander Harris.

"So those are for you?" she asked the man in front of her, pointing at his box of tampons.

"Ohhh, no no, of course not! They're actually for my mom."

'Score!' Anya thought happily.

"Anyway," Xander continued, realizing that the cold goods in his trolley were melting, "I should be going. It was nice to see you again!"

The blonde dug through her purse and then grabbed a box off the shelf. She pressed it into Xander's hand.

"Your mom might prefer these," she said with a wink. She waved her farewell and walked away.

Xander looked down at the box and noticed a small slip of paper peeking out from underneath it. It was a business card with Anya's address and phone number. On the back the words 'call me' were written neatly. 'Man, she's prepared!' he thought in awe.

12345

"What group would be good for me, Binks?"

Willow was sitting at the kitchen table with the paper Donna had given her and a ballpoint pen. She was alone in the house except for Mr Binks, their black cat. Upon returning from university, Willow had found a note on the fridge saying that Buffy was out for the evening with Jim and not to wait up.

"Come on, Binks," the redhead said, massaging the cat behind his ear. "It's just you and me."

The list was extensive and quite hard to narrow down. Willow had countered the problem by making a list of her own. She'd written ten groups that looked interesting.

"I like art and could use the cooking one," she said to her cat, "but maybe these people already know how to cook and it'd be another thing to mess up. What am I good at anyway? Computers? But that's so dull! I'm supposed to be big college girl with new exciting activities."

After coming up with twenty reasons why she couldn't join the ten groups on her new list, the redhead took another look at the one Donna had given her.

"Hmm," she said thoughtfully as she noticed one down the bottom that she had skimmed over before, "I could join the new kid on campus program. It'll be lots of people that don't know each other but are looking for friends. They will be really different sorts of people too!"

Binks purred and rubbed his head against Willow affectionately.

"So you think it's good, Binksy?" she asked excitedly, glad to have reached a decision. "Ok, I'll go to this meeting tomorrow afternoon and see how it goes."

Willow stood and grabbed the cat.

"Come on, pussy, let's go get ready for tomorrow. I'm so nervous!"